VP, Strategy Director

Edelman; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 105,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and dental insurance

Vision

401K

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Paid time off

Travel assistance

Wellness programing

Job summary

Edelman seeks a curious, culturally attuned strategy leader to guide a key client relationship as VP, Strategy Director. You will shape the strategic vision, inspire creative thinking, and mentor the next generation of strategy talent, growing the business with an evolving strategic contribution.

You will partner with clients and agency teams to translate research and culture into actionable opportunities, leading across brand, purpose, reputation, and cultural initiatives.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in brand/communications strategy at an agency, consultancy, or similar.
• Ability to follow Edelman's hybrid work policy.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead integrated strategy across brand, purpose, reputation, and cultural initiatives.
• Turn research, cultural intelligence, social listening into strategic opportunities.
• Develop strategic frameworks, narratives, and briefs that inspire ideas.
• Guide annual planning and align client around vision and roadmap.
• Identify shifts in consumer behavior and culture to unlock opportunities.
• Ensure inclusivity across the strategic process and audiences.
• Be trusted partner to creative teams from idea to launch.
• Build strong client relationships and identify growth opportunities.

Skills

Brand/communications strategy

Integrated strategy

Client relationships

Mentor strategy talent

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a curious, culturally attuned, and collaborative strategy leader to help shape the future of a leading retail brand.

As VP, Strategy Director, you’ll be the senior strategic lead for one of the agency’s key client relationships. You’ll partner closely with clients and integrated agency teams to turn complex business challenges into meaningful human opportunities—and those opportunities into ideas that earn attention, inspire action, and drive brand growth.

This is a role for someone who loves getting close to the work while also seeing the bigger picture. You’ll set the strategic vision, inspire ambitious creative thinking, build trusted client relationships, and mentor the next generation of strategy talent. You’ll also play an important role in strengthening and growing the business, ensuring our strategic contribution continues to evolve alongside our clients’ needs.

What You’ll Do

Shape the Strategy

• Lead integrated strategy across brand, purpose, reputation, and cultural initiatives.
• Help clients uncover the human problem behind a business challenge and define how communications can create meaningful change.
• Turn research, cultural intelligence, social listening and business data into clear, actionable strategic opportunities.
• Develop compelling strategic frameworks, narratives, and creative briefs that inspire breakthrough ideas.
• Guide annual planning and goal-setting, helping clients align around a clear vision and roadmap for success.
• Identify shifts in consumer behavior, culture and lifestyle that can unlock new opportunities for the brand.
• Ensure inclusivity is embedded throughout the strategic process and that the work resonates with diverse, intersectional audiences.

Inspire the Work

• Be a close, trusted partner to creative teams from the first spark of an idea through launch and optimization.
• Create the strategic conditions for work that is culturally relevant, emotionally resonant, and impossible to ignore.
• Keep ideas grounded in the brief while giving teams the space and inspiration to take the work somewhere unexpected.
• Ensure audience, channel, measurement, and activation plans connect back to the central strategy.
• Interpret campaign results and identify opportunities to optimize the work, extend successful platforms, and build long-term brand equity.

Build Strong Partnerships

• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to senior clients, bringing clarity, confidence, and a strong point of view to the table.
• Develop deep relationships across the client’s marketing organization and broader agency-partner ecosystem.
• Lead strategic conversations, workshops, and presentations that create alignment and help clients make confident decisions.
• Proactively identify opportunities to expand the agency’s impact and deepen the client relationship.
• Partner with account leadership to protect, strengthen, and grow the business.

Bring People Together

• Collaborate across creative, account, production, earned media, influencer, digital, social, technology, experience, and data and intelligence teams.
• Connect different disciplines and perspectives around a shared strategic vision.
• Navigate multiple projects, priorities, and stakeholders while maintaining a high bar for the work.
• Create an environment where people feel supported, challenged, and empowered to do their best thinking.

Who You Are

You are an experienced strategy leader who is equally energized by people, culture, creativity, and business. You know how to simplify complexity without losing what makes a challenge interesting, and you can move comfortably between a senior client conversation, a creative working session, and a coaching conversation with a developing strategist.

You Bring

• Deep experience leading brand, communications, creative, or integrated strategy within an agency, consultancy, or complex marketing organization.
• A strong understanding of how brands build relevance, admiration, and consideration through culture and communications.
• The ability to translate research and data into a sharp strategic point of view—and communicate it through compelling storytelling.
• A track record of inspiring creative teams and helping ambitious ideas become strategically sound, integrated work.
• Confidence building trusted relationships with senior clients and navigating complex stakeholder environments.
• A collaborative and generous leadership style, balanced by a commitment to rigor and high standards.
• Intellectual curiosity, cultural fluency, and a desire to continually find better ways to solve problems.
• The ability to manage multiple priorities without losing sight of the people, purpose, or quality of the work.

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years in brand/communications strategy at a
• Ability to follow our hybrid work policy
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

What You’ll Find Here

You’ll have the opportunity to shape meaningful work for a highly visible client, collaborate with talented people across a wide range of disciplines, and play a defining role in the growth of both the business and the strategy team.

We care deeply about the quality of our work and how we work together. We value different perspectives, generous collaboration, continuous learning, and leaders who are as invested in developing people as they are in delivering great work.

$105,000-$175,000 a year

An employee’s pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, travel requirements, revenue-based metrics, any contractual agreements, and business or organizational needs. The range listed is just one component of DJEH’s total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, a Paid Time Off policy, and region-specific benefits.

DJEH offers a wide range of benefits: medical and dental insurance, vision, 401K, life insurance, disability insurance, paid time off, travel assistance and wellness programing.

DJEH is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and believes in diversity, equity, and inclusion. We seek applications from all qualified candidates without regard to race, color, gender, sex, age, religion, physical or mental disability, military and veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. If you require a reasonable accommodation in any part of the employment process, please let us know.